Sensex slips 143 points; Nifty holds 17,500; Realty, PSBs dip, metals shine


Mixed global cues kept the domestic equities volatile throughout the day on Friday as investors digested key updates from both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Meanwhile, Brent crude inched closer to $93 per barrel-mark, and bond yields climbed in the US and in India, which added to the nervousness in the markets.

The S&P BSE Sensex index oscillated 517 points intra-day and eventually settled 143 points lower at 58,645. The Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 17,516, down 44 points. Both the benchmarks were down 0.24 per cent today but were up 2.5 per cent for the week.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were down 0.7 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively.

Sectorally, the Nifty Realty index fell 2.8 per cent on the NSE, while the Nifty PSB index dipped 1.9 per cent. On the contrary, the Nifty Metal index rose 1.2 per cent.

BSE breadth was midly negative as 1,746 stocks ended in the red as against 1,595 stocks that ended in the green. MAS Financial Services (up 15.5 per cent), Spandana Sphoorty, HG Infra, and Torrent Power were among the top gainers today. EI Hotels, Greaves Cotton, Welspun India, and Radico Khaitan, on the flipside, were the top drags.

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Bulls beat bears after 2 days; Sensex gains 568 points, Nifty tops 14,500


Breaking away from two-straight sessions of bear hammering, bulls were back in action on Dalal Street. Parked near day’s high, the benchmark indices ended Friday’s session with over one per cent gains amid healthy buying in metal, financial, and auto stocks.

The Nifty Metal index ended nearly 4 per cent higher, while the Nifty Financial Services, FMCG, and Auto indices ended with around 2 per cent gains. Realty, bank, pharma and IT indices, meanwhile, advanced up to 1.5 per cent.

Among the benchmark indices, the frontline S&P BSE Sensex closed with gains of 568 points, or 1.17 per cent, at 49,008 level. The broader Nifty, on the other hand, reclaimed the 14,500-mark on a closing basis and settled at 14,507 level, up 182.4 points or 1.27 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, HUL, Titan Company, Bajaj Auto, and HDFC were leading the list of gainers on the Sensex, up between 2.7 per cent and 4.4 per cent. Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Ports were the additional gainers on the Nifty with up to 6 per cent returns today.

On the downside, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Maruti Suzuki, UPL, and TCS declined the most on the benchmark indices, down up to 2 per cent.

Overall, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 1.66 per cent higher, while the SmallCap counterpart closed with a per cent gain.

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Sensex surges 835 points, Nifty reclaims 11K; Nifty IT up over 3% on Friday


The Indian stock market ended over 2 per cent higher on Friday due to across-the-board buying.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 835 points, or 2.28 per cent higher at 37,389 levels with all the 30 constituents ending in the green. Bajaj Finserv (up 6.6 per cent) was the top gainer on the index, followed by HCL Tech (up over 5 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (up 5 per cent).

NSE’s Nifty, meanwhile, reclaimed the crucial 11,000 level to settle at 11,050, up 245 points, or 2.26 per cent. India VIX dropped nearly 12 per cent to 20.76 levels.

On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty declined nearly 4 per cent.

All the Nifty sectoral indices ended in the green, led by Nifty IT and FMCG indexes, both up nearly 3.5 per cent, each.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index gained around 3 per cent to 14,337 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index added 2.31 per cent to 14,496 levels.

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IT stocks, HDFC Bank, RIL help Sensex settle 329 points higher


Rally in information technology (IT) stocks, HDFC Bank, and Reliance Industries (RIL) helped the benchmark index, S&P BSE Sensex, settle with 329 points or 0.94 per cent gains at 35,171 levels on Friday.

NSE’s Nifty rallied 94 points or 0.91 per cent to end at 10,383. Volatility index, India VIX, dropped over 4 per cent to 28.50 levels.

IT stocks advanced in the trade after Accenture posted a better than expected quarterly numbers. The S&P BSE Information Technology index jumped over 5 per cent to end at 15,125 levels. Among individual stocks, Infosys gained 7 per cent, TCS rose 5 per cent while Wipro ended over 3 per cent higher. READ MORE

On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 1.26 per cent while Nifty added 1.35 per cent.

The broader indices underperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.27 per cent higher at 13,258.44 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap rose 0.19 per cent to 12,630 points.

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Sensex ends 434 points lower as RBI cuts GDP forecast; banks slip


A 25 basis point (bps)-rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday failed to cheer market participants as concerns over slowing economic growth dented investor sentiment. In its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy meet, the RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) did cut the repo rate, as widely expected; however, a sharp reduction in the GDP growth forecast to 6.1 per cent for the financial year 2019-20 (FY20) caught investors off guard.

Benchmark indices, S&P BSE Sensex and NSE’s Nifty50, lost over 1 per cent, thus taking their losing streak to the fifth consecutive session.

The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 434 points or 1.14 per cent to settle at 37,673.31. Financial stocks led the decline with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank falling up to over 3 per cent.

On the NSE, the frontline index Nifty50 ended at 11,175, down 139 points or 1.23 per cent.

On a weekly basis, Sensex shed nearly 3 per cent while Nifty50 lost 2.93 per cent.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank index slid nearly 700 points or 2.40 per cent to settle at 27,731.85 levels, with 10 out of 12 constituents ending in the red. Nifty IT index was the only sectoral index on the NSE that ended in the green. The Nifty IT index ended at 15,340.30, up 62 points or 0.41 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index lost 131 points or 0.94 per cent to settle at 13,713.79 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 12,809, down 102 points or 0.79 per cent.

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Sensex slips 118 pts, Nifty ends at 11,922 in volatile trade


After reclaiming the crucial 40,000 and 12,000 levels, respectively in the early deals, the benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 index turned volatile in the afternoon session.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 39,714, down 118 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 11,923, down 23 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex was trading 132 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 39,700 levels while the NSE’s Nifty50 index was quoting 33 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 11,913 levels. Nifty Bank saw a swing of 1,200 points during the session. Volatility index India VIX was trading over 4 per cent higher at 16.24.

Sectorally, barring IT and FMCG counters, all the indices were trading in the red with the Nifty PSU Bank index taking the hardest knock, followed by media and realty stocks. The Nifty PSU Bank index was trading nearly 2 per cent lower at 3,232.50 levels.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index was trading flat at 15,070 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,876, down 88 points or 0.59 per cent.

Putting rest to all speculation, the President of India on Friday released the portfolio details of new Cabinet, a day after Narendra Modi took oath as the country’s 16th Prime Minister. There were expectations that Amit Shah, a seasoned stock broker and a key architect of NDA’s victory for the second consecutive time will be handed over reigns of the Finance Ministry. This is after Arun Jaitley expressed his desire to stay away from any role in the new government citing health reasons. However, Nirmala Sitharaman has been appointed the new Finance Minister, while Amit Shah will handle the Home Ministry. Smriti Irani, who was expected to be awarded handsomely for defeating Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, has been made the Minister of Women and Child Development and Minister of Textiles.

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Nifty ends above 9,950, up 1% for the week; Sensex settles 161 pts higher


Benchmark indices rose on Friday and gaining for a third straight week after much weaker-than-expected economic growth data raised hopes the central bank would cut interest rates at its next policy meeting in October.

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slid to a three-year low of 5.7% in the quarter ended June, a marked slowdown from a 6.1% growth in the previous quarter.

However, India’s factory activity unexpectedly expanded in August, snapping back from a contraction the previous month, as disruptions stemming from confusion over GST eased.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap up 0.9% and 0.8% respectively.

Shares of Gravita India touched 52-week high of Rs 134.65, rising 11% intraday on the back of strong Q1 numbers.

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